Lanesborough Police Seeking Info on Vape Shop Break-in

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Police are asking looking for help in identifying a group of individuals who broke into Uniq Vape on South Main Street and stole upward of $9,000 worth of products.

Police were notified of a burglar alarm at about 3:10 a.m. on Wednesday. Upon arrival, police found a side door kicked in with two muddy footprints on it. The store was in disarray and a glass display was destroyed.

According to police, video footage shows two parties checking the doors at about 2:49 a.m. and then returning 25 minutes later and kicking in the door. Those two were then joined by four others who ran through the store taking items. Those involved got into a vehicle and left and a K9 search was unable to track them.

"We reviewed the security camera footage and observed at 2:39 a.m. what appears to be two males, one wearing black and/or grey Adidas brand striped pants and sweatshirt, and the other wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with a red Under Armour logo approached the building and attempt to gain entry through the front windows. After failing to gain entry from the front, the two parties walked around the building trying other windows before appearing to leave the area," reads the police report filed by Officer Ben Garner.

"A short time later at 3:04 a.m. the same previously described parties return to the building and one kicked in the south-facing side door. Immediately after the two males enter the building, four more parties ran from behind the BP gas station directly to the south and entered the building also. All six parties took various items from the store before exiting through the same door and running back behind the BP gas station."

Store owner Syed Quaseem provided police with surveillance footage of the incident and authorities are asking anyone with information to contact them at 413-443-4107.

Man Rescued After Getting Stuck in Lanesborough Cave

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff03:40PM / Monday June 25, 2018

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Firefighters freed a man stuck upside down in a cave off Silver Street on Saturday night.

Fire Chief Charlie Durfee said the local man had slipped on wet rocks at about 9:15 p.m. while checking out a cave behind 96 Silver St. and fell head first into the cave opening. Durfee said the man was attending a birthday party when he and a friend took a walk to look at the caves.

He was stuck there for about two hours while the Western Mass Technical Rescue Team worked to free him.

"He was probably in the hole for about two hours," Durfee said.

More than a dozen local firefighters who serve on the technical rescue team was joined by another dozen from the Lanesborough Volunteer Fire Department on the call.

Durfee said he also received assistance from Dalton Fire Chief Gerald Cahalan and Pittsfield Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski. Durfee added that another one of the partygoers is a paramedic in another town and kept the man calm as they waited for first responders to arrive.

"It was tedious getting to where he was," he said. "It was a great team effort."

Durfee said freeing the man proved to be tricky because rescuers couldn't simply lift him out. But eventually, using a number of ropes, harnesses, and other tools, the man was freed and taken by County Ambulance to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. He suffered only a laceration on the back of his head.

"These guys are highly trained in tactical rescues," Durfee said.

There are some 58 caves in Lanesborough and about half of them are located in the Silver Street area. But this the only cave rescue Durfee can remember.

"We've never had a cave rescue in the 37 years I've been on the department," he said.

Special Response Team Called To Lanesborough Home

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff03:19PM / Tuesday December 12, 2017

Bailey Road was closed from Route 7 to Noppet Road nearly all day.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Bailey Road was closed for close to eight hours Tuesday after a man barricaded himself inside a home.

Police said a Bailey Road resident called at about 11 a.m. to report that another household member was "shooting in the house and out the window." The reporting party then fled to a neighbor's house.

Lanesborough Police, state police, and the Berkshire County sheriff's department set up a perimeter around the house and police, with the help of Lanesborough's Highway Department, shut down Bailey Road from Route 7 to Noppet Road. Traffic was diverted throughout the day around Brodie Mountain Road.

The Berkshire County Special Response Team was called and relieved the initial responders. Police then made multiple attempts to reach the individual through crisis negotiators with the Special Response Team and the State Police Crisis Negotiators Unit but were unsuccessful.

For hours, police could be heard through a megaphone calling on a man to exit the home. After nearly six hours without contact with the individual, the Special Response Team entered the residence.

The scene was then turned over to detectives with the state police assigned to the Berkshire County district attorney's office, and the State Police Crime Scene Services Unit.

Bailey Road was re-opened to traffic at about 7 p.m. Officers from Lanesborough, Pittsfield, Lee, Lenox, North Adams, Adams, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Berkshire County Sheriff's Department assisted on the scene.

Dog Takes Bite Out of Lanesborough Thief's Pants

A German shepherd thwarted a would-be robber in the Balance Rock and Potter Mountain Road neighborhood Monday night. Police say there has been somewhat of a rash of attempted break-ins in the neighborhood, with three reported in the last two days.

However, at one home, the cat burglar met his foe — the dog.

Police say the homeowner returned home to find his dog outside and a back door open. Later, he found remnants of what appears to be someone's ripped pants.

Despite the doggo scaring the burglar from one home, police say at another the perpetrator was able to steal a number of items — exactly what items isn't being revealed because the case is under investigation.

On Tuesday, police received another report of a homeowner in the same area returning and hearing somebody upstairs. The homeowner didn't find anyone but did find a garage door open.

Police are reminding people to lock their windows and doors and if they see something, say something because they'd "rather investigate suspicious activity that turns out to be harmless than to miss an opportunity to potentially catch someone in the act of committing a crime."

Police Investigating Attempted Abduction From Berkshire Mall

Staff Reports12:06PM / Thursday February 02, 2017

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Police are looking for assistance in identifying a man accused of attempting to abduct a 9-year-old girl at the Berkshire Mall on Sunday night.

Police released a composite sketch of the man they are looking to question regarding the incident. Police Chief Tim Sorrell said the 9-year-old girl was in the hallway near the bathrooms around 5 p.m. when the man allegedly grabbed her by the hair and shoulder and pulled her toward the back of the hallway.

But he stopped when another adult came out of the men's room. The girl ran back to the food court, where her grandmother was waiting for her.

There were no cameras in that section of the mall and mall security conducted a search to no avail. Police received descriptions of the individual from the girl and her mother, who had noticed the man in the hallway earlier.

Police contacted a composite artist from Woburn to create the image shown.

The man is described as white, standing between 5 feet 7 inches and 6 feet tall. He was wearing a hooded sweat shirt, with the hood down. Police are asking anyone who may have seen the incident, who knows the individual or may have seen the individual at the mall to contact them at 413-443-4107.

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